Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Maxwell:

The beer pours a gorgeous, muddled pink, almost like a fruited Berliner Weisse. It sits in the glass a regal, dark purple color with maroon and ruby hues. The beer pours with a head of miniscule, creamy white bubbles that form a pillow, and then quickly settles into a fat scrim around the beer. In body, the beer is dark and hazy, but clear of particles and cloudiness. On the nose, the beer smells of light vinegar, cherries, leather, and nearly vinous. Touches of grape and soft plum dance on the edges of the scent along with rich vanilla from the oak. The funky leather and cherry scents are earthy and rich with vinegar, which I adore, but they are also constrained and mellow. The nose of this beer revels in subtle complexity; it is funky, but not in a way that would kick your nose. On the tongue, the beer tastes tart with acidity, sweet with fruity malt, and bitter with oak tannin. The oak leaves a strange twinge to the pucker in your cheeks. The beer finishes dry and tannic. In flavor, the beer begins as sweet plum juice, tinged with tart cherry leather, this bulls head on into a wall of rich, oak tannin that blankets the middle of the sip, all but obliterating the fruity notes and bringing vanilla, earth and finally a touch of chocolate into play. Touches of grape juice and rich red wine can also be sensed in the start of the sip, while the finish is long and decadent with oak, vanilla, touches of tart grapes, and bitter herbal tannin. The aftertaste is hard to distinguish from the finish, as the beer has tremendous lasting power in the mouth. For all intents and purposes, the finish and the aftertaste are the same. In body, the beer is on the light side of medium, with a middling carbonation that gives a nice pillow to the tongue. Mouthfeel is smooth, if a bit watery, providing superb drinkability until the beer hits the back of the palate. In the back, the tannin does touch with a quick bite of astringency, but this quickly fades to just leave a bit of tightness in the tongue. The mouth is left slightly dry, with just a touch of saliva oozing in to cancel the lingering acidity of the beer. Overall, this is yet another superb Flanders Red. This particular beer revels in the rich character it gained from unique Bordeaux cognac barrels. Admittedly, I have not drank a lot of cognac from Bordeaux (I thought Cognac could only be made in a region surrounding the town of Cognac?) but I think an experienced Cognac drinker would definitely find subtle hints within this beer reminiscent of that drink. This is a Flanders Red of subtle intrigue and beauty, like a fine red wine. It unfurled on my tongue like a puzzle, and I very much enjoyed that. My chief complaint with the beer comes from its thinness. I want my Flanders Reds to be medium bodied, and this one is just a little too far below this bench mark for me. It is superbly drinkable, but loses a little oomf. The beer’s tannic structure also allows it to grip the mouth quite nicely, and provides some amazing complexities, though it is a little too raw for my personal tastes. In the end though, it’s a great Flanders red.

Look (3.5/5) - pours a very deep orange/copper, almost light mahogany. Nice reddish tones. Clarity is good, just a touch hazy. Head rises to about two fingers and falls to a cap with minimal lacing.

Smell (4/5) - I really unique smell. You get fruits (berry, grapes, dark cherries). The sour and brett work together to make a bit of a pickle-brine aroma with some goat.

Flavor (4.5/5) - Similar to the aroma, but with a bit less brett and more sourness. Again, there's a flavor like pickling dark cherries and goat. Not a lot of malt or hop (or anything else) makes it through this fugue.

Feel (3.5/5) - Medium light body with medium high carbonation. Good feel of tangy sourness that bites at your cheeks and tongue.

Drink (3/5) - I'm not hugely experienced with this style and I'd love to compare it. It was certainly an interesting taste for a beer lover, but not something I'd imagine you'd want to have as a session.

The flavor follows the aroma, but isn't quite as intense or aggressive. The tart cherries and biting sourness dominate, with a bit of toffee, wood, and lemon and apple flavors presenting as the beer warms.

Medium bodied with ample carbonation.

A very nice red sour, and quite the surprise. My first beer from Italy is a hit!

Dark red and brown beer, just right for style, minimal head, nothing to retain. Aroma was nice and sour, elements of bitterness and mildly fruity with hints of oak.

Taste, good, dry sour, keeps the oaky notes along right with it. Carbonation is complimentary, even if from looking at it, you wouldn't know it was the right amount. Cherry possibly.

Nuanced feel of a dab of cinnamon to it, could just be the wood. Price is a tough part, $18 for a bottle, have to knock its overall score down a tad because you could have 2 bottles of Le Terroir or Dissident almost for this price.

Pours an almost opaque brownish-amber color with a 1.5-finger cream-colored head. The head recedes into a thin layer on top leaving decent lacing.

Smells of dark malts with good amounts of tart cherries and mimlder amounts of vanilla. Also present are slight amounts of tobacco that increase as the beer warms.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Muted dark caramel malt flavors kick things off and are quickly pushed aside by large amounts of tart cherry flavors. Shortly thereafter mild amounts of vanilla from the oak work their way into things. Midway through the sip hints of tobacco make an appearance and carry through to a crisp and moderately tart ending.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with grainy carbonation.

Drinkability is very good. I finished my glass quickly and could easily have a few more.

Overall this isn't the cleanest representation of the style but I'm a sucker for tobacco influences and this certainly has it. An interesting take on the style that's well worth a shot and I look forward to trying the Riserva version to compare.

Final note, the tobacco notes are similar but much more muted and nuanced than the flavors I found from Haandbryggeriet's Akevitt-Aged Porter. A very distinct flavor.

Pours an almost completely flat ruby red with next to no head. Very strong sour nose of sour cherry and sour fruit. Taste is a very vinous sour fruit flavor. Goes down like wine as it is almost completely flat. This is a fantastic sour red, aged in oak, and is strongly recommended for a red wine substitute. Drinkability is nice, but the flatness will turn away many beer fans. Great brew.

This is a masterpiece and one of the best sour beers as I am ranking to style. The reddish colour is awesome. The aroma is alcoholic is best I can say. It is very easy drinking, not thick which I liked and is dangerously easy to finish. It is complex with cognac, woody, avnilla, sour cherry. Because of the sourness this is not for everybody.

Though soaked in casks formerly used for cognac and wine, I note that it is considered kosher because there is no real wine, it's not considered the actual flavour by the science of kashruth. I had previously spoken to the head of the most senior inspector in Canada about this and I can pass on details if anyone is inetrested.

Pale brilliantly clear rufous body with a thin soapy persistant collar. Not much lacing, but that's not a big surprise.

Oaky, tobacco-laden, dank, and leathery aromatics - very unique. Smells like cherries deep in the cool hold of an 18th century schooner.

Lightly acidic on the palate with faint red wine vinegar and sour cherry notes; there are also hints of toasted almond and vanilla from the wood, as well as lingerings signs of cognac. Rather wine-like, with a fleeting berry-like sweetness and a "wild" lacto-induced tartness. Very dry moderately astringent, woody/earthy (like a casket?) finish.

While not as sweet as many examples of the style, and more of a "living" product thanks to the lack of pasteurization, this youthful vintage was not nearly as sour as I was hoping/expecting - so while it has more complexity and sense of terroir/craft than even Rodenbach, the latter seems to be a more potent example of the style.

Light bodied, with low carbonation, and significant tannins.

If you enjoy the style, you must try this beer. I don't think this is actually the only unpasteurized traditional brewed Flanders Red, but it does have a singular subtlety among its peers.

Barriquee pours a light reddish brown color. Looks almost copper with backlighting. A soft, off-white head tops it off. It's very modest and doesn't even rise to a finger in depth. Retention was on the short side. Lacing was a little sticky and moderate.

The nose is a little weak and uninspiring. It would benefit from more strength. Oak is fairly prominent. Its presence has a positive overall impact. I'm not sure if it's the effect of the cognac barrel aging or what, but it has a medicinal scent that's not very pleasant. There's a little cherry and other berry scents. It smells a little tart, but not much. Alcohol is a little noticeable. Meh. It's above average, but not by much.

The flavor is just above average. It kicks off with a very medicinal cherry-like flavor. Not a fan. I'm really curious if it's cognac that's having that effect. It has a slight sour cherry twist, but it's not aggressively tart by any stretch. Not even close to mouth puckering. Oak is noted and adds a bit of a nice flavor. Alcohol is there, but isn't warm or hot at all. Finishes a little sweet and dry. Honestly, I'm disappointed. There seems to be lack of overall flavor. Perhaps I aged it a little too long. Who knows?

Barriquee has a light/medium body. Carbonation is very light. Too light. I guess it's somewhat smooth, but more bubbles would be a plus. Drinkability is very average. I'm not excited about the flavor. I guess it goes down somewhat easy, I'm not really enjoying it. Ready to move on.

Panil Barriquee is a rather big disappointment for me. I was excited about this one, and held on to the bottle for quite a while. Maybe it diminished in that period of time. The biggest problems are the lack of flavor, the medicinal taste, and the lack of bubbles. Fix those things and it'd be all the better for it. Can't recommend it at this point. I don't recall exactly what I paid for this, but whatever it was...it was too much.